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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7524790" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Alright, so we're doing this again.1)&nbsp; The &quot;level of the encounter&quot; is where DCs come from.&nbsp; The game implies this throughout its text (in both Combat Encounters and Skill Challenges), but I can't remember if it says this precisely in DMG1's page 42 or if you're just supposed to infer this from the holistic context of the rest of the book (I don't have my books with me).&nbsp; I know FOR CERTAIN that DMG 2 says it specifically in its Terrain Powers section (which is basically the &quot;show your work&quot; version of improvisational acts).&nbsp; The overwhelming % of encounters in 4e are going to be of-level, level +1 or level +2 (until you get into later Paragon and then Heroic).&nbsp; So the rolling 3 level spread of DCs and Expressions easily encapsulates the relevant numbers required in almost every situation.&nbsp; If the encounter is particularly difficult (level +3 to level +5), then just move the DCs and expressions down one.An encounter is a discrete environment of context that includes, circumstance, threat, and danger.&nbsp; Sliding down a banister is an of-level encounter with no extenuating circumstances is different than sliding down the same banister in a burning building, filled with smoke, where the building's framing is failing, and you're tasked to protect 3 vulnerable minions from the fire and from a level +2 equivalent encounter worth of threats 6 levels later.2)&nbsp; The DMGs both talks about &quot;say yes...&quot;, so if, for whatever reason, a PC is facing a Heroic Tier component of fiction (without any exacerbating components to scale it) while they're engaged in a Paragon Tier encounter, GMs are obliged to &quot;say yes...&quot;3)&nbsp; The advice on obstacles, threats, and environments is quite clear in 4e.&nbsp; The tiers should be scaling these threats up (see my second paragraph on (1) above) as you move up the tiers.&nbsp; 4)&nbsp; 4e, like most games these days (see PBtA systems), want the system's most interesting results (for 4e that is success...but sometimes failure + rider) to be roughly 2/3 of the game's moves.&nbsp; So 4e's maths and Tier fiction/obstacles/threats are meant to scale together to engender that.&nbsp; This isn't something that is hidden from us.&nbsp; Its transparent (and was transparently discussed during design and post-release).I don't know how many times I've posted something to the equivalent of the above.&nbsp; I'd say that I hope it is the last, but I said that the preceding x number of times.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 7524790, member: 6696971"] Alright, so we're doing this again. 1) The "level of the encounter" is where DCs come from. The game implies this throughout its text (in both Combat Encounters and Skill Challenges), but I can't remember if it says this precisely in DMG1's page 42 or if you're just supposed to infer this from the holistic context of the rest of the book (I don't have my books with me). I know FOR CERTAIN that DMG 2 says it specifically in its Terrain Powers section (which is basically the "show your work" version of improvisational acts). The overwhelming % of encounters in 4e are going to be of-level, level +1 or level +2 (until you get into later Paragon and then Heroic). So the rolling 3 level spread of DCs and Expressions easily encapsulates the relevant numbers required in almost every situation. If the encounter is particularly difficult (level +3 to level +5), then just move the DCs and expressions down one. An encounter is a discrete environment of context that includes, circumstance, threat, and danger. Sliding down a banister is an of-level encounter with no extenuating circumstances is different than sliding down the same banister in a burning building, filled with smoke, where the building's framing is failing, and you're tasked to protect 3 vulnerable minions from the fire and from a level +2 equivalent encounter worth of threats 6 levels later. 2) The DMGs both talks about "say yes...", so if, for whatever reason, a PC is facing a Heroic Tier component of fiction (without any exacerbating components to scale it) while they're engaged in a Paragon Tier encounter, GMs are obliged to "say yes..." 3) The advice on obstacles, threats, and environments is quite clear in 4e. The tiers should be scaling these threats up (see my second paragraph on (1) above) as you move up the tiers. 4) 4e, like most games these days (see PBtA systems), want the system's most interesting results (for 4e that is success...but sometimes failure + rider) to be roughly 2/3 of the game's moves. So 4e's maths and Tier fiction/obstacles/threats are meant to scale together to engender that. This isn't something that is hidden from us. Its transparent (and was transparently discussed during design and post-release). I don't know how many times I've posted something to the equivalent of the above. I'd say that I hope it is the last, but I said that the preceding [I]x [/I]number of times. [/QUOTE]

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